RAS question
Under the 73rd Amendment, which of the following is a mandatory provision?
Correct answer: (A) Reservation of not less than one-third seats for women.
Under Article 243D of the Constitution, not less than one-third of the directly elected seats in every Panchayat must be reserved for women.
Explanation
Article 243D is the reservation provision for Panchayats under Part IX. Clause (3) says that not less than one-third of the total number of seats filled by direct election in every Panchayat, including seats reserved for women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, shall be reserved for women. Clause (4) separately requires not less than one-third of chairperson offices at each Panchayat level to be reserved for women. By contrast, clause (6) only says that nothing prevents a State Legislature from providing reservation for backward classes, which makes it enabling rather than mandatory. Article 243H similarly leaves taxation powers to State law. Therefore, the mandatory provision in the options is the one-third reservation for women.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Reservation for backward classes in Panchayats is not compulsory under Article 243D(6); it is an enabling provision left to the State Legislature.
- (C) Article 243H does not automatically grant taxation powers to Panchayats; it says the State Legislature may authorise such powers by law.
- (D) This combines a mandatory provision with a discretionary one, because only women’s reservation is compulsory while backward-class reservation is optional for the State Legislature.
Concept
This tests the mandatory-versus-enabling distinction in Part IX of the Constitution. RAS asks it often because Panchayati Raj provisions mix compulsory constitutional guarantees with powers left to State legislation.